How to get iRC on your machine

iRC is a ” Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a form of real-time Internet text messaging (chat) or synchronous conferencing. It is mainlydesigned for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message as well as chat and data transfers via Direct Client-to-Client.”Wikipedia:IRC

IRC channels are very useful specially for programmers, they have a channel for any type of programming , Java, Python, Ruby etc. Each channel has hundreds of users that are there to ask questions and answer others. They are very helpful. From my personal experience, it is the best way to have your question answered by professionals.

This article will help you get IRC on your desktop to be able to connect to all the available channels.

Firefox users

This would work for both Linux and Windows users. The easiest way is to add Chatzilla – firefox add-on , run the ChatZilla from Tools/ChatZilla and you got it running.

Ubuntu Users

Windows Users

This is the most popular IRC client world wide, It is a bit complicated but has a lot of features. It can be very useful sometimes.

Get Started

IRC is a command based application- means you can do anything by typing commands. For example, to get a nickname. just type /nick(Space)<your nickname>. To chat with others you have to get inside a server then inside a channel. Here is a list of some cool Servers and channels

If you know the server’s name , such as the one with the bespin in .. it’s irc.mozilla.org , you connect by typing /server(Space)irc.mozilla.org . You can get in a channel by typing /join #<channel name>, such as /join #Bespin. You Can also start your own channel by typing #<your Channel Name> Then click on it. If it didn’t exist, then you just created a temporary channel.

it is very simple , and really cool, a lot of people will help you on irc , just ask a questions and see for your self.